This week on Fitspeek we celebrate the number 3! It is our 133rd podcast and we have a 3 ring circus to entertain and motivate you this weekend. First off, ATC is back in business. We have head coach Mikey Ross in for his Top Five List. Mikey gives advice about how to adapt those workouts you are scheduled to do, whether the source is from your coach, an Internet – based source, or a training app like Training Peaks.
Up second on the podcast, is the first part of our conversation with one of the most colourful & charismatic folks in West Coast Multisport, Victoria’s Nick Patenaude. If you’ve ever been to a triathlon in BC and have seen the guy with the colour and crazy hair…. this is him. We Fitspeek about his transition from video game geek to duathlon dude, to representing Canada at the World Championships.
We leave the last word to Dr. E on Between the Ears. If you are one of those folks who can talk the talk, but sometimes can’t follow through, the doc has some tips on how to “git-er-dun.”
Do it now! 44 minutes of Fitspeek is here at the press of THIS button.
The real work for today began just as Paul Anka and Odia Coates were having a discussion on “Having my Baby” on the Mission Swimming Pool’s sound system. (my apologies to the tender ears of the lifeguards on deck, who undoubtedly, would have been the grandchildren of those heated loins of the summer of 1973, but hey, it was the THEM who control the music for the pool).
Buoyed, or perhaps that should be, tethered to the success of last week’s breakthrough session, I went to work on recapturing that control and balance that I achieved doing the alignment turnovers. “Damn near as good as Brent’s on the video,” I boasted to myself. Not one to totally delude myself (well, usually) I expected to have to start almost from scratch, to regain the form. I was right!
The next 15 minutes were spent patiently, methodically, trying to get the drill right, and maybe improve on it. Improvement, hell! A sense of humour goes a long way when you are trying to swim gracefully on your side, repeatedly hitting the lane rope, over and over and over. And over again, not only hitting it, but the body pushing into the lane rope and wanting to join my neighbour in the adjacent lane. For some reason things were just not going well.
As much as I tried to maintain a positive attitude, self-doubt crept in, like a raccoon into an attic. “What if last week was a fluke?” “What if you don’t swim that final 100 metres as quickly?”
I wasn’t super bummed out but last week’s successes had bred expectations and when expectations are not met…it’s hard to be in the moment. No stranger to disappointment, I gave myself a couple of minutes to refocus. It seemed to work. I got back to practice, and even though I don’t think I achieved the same flow as last week, I was satisfied.
With about 10 minutes left in the practice, I started working on the isolated 1/4 turns. Having never done these very well at all, I didn’t feel the pressure to “perform.” I just did the work. It wasn’t pretty and I really had to work on not dipping my head too far into the water because the snorkel top would submerge. I developed a bit of a flow with these, with my body almost wanting to swim on its side. Maybe this is a good thing?
By the time Andy Kim was singing “Rock Me Gently” I only had 3 minutes left in the session. Among the warm up, drills, self-loathing, Paul Anka, (not connected to the self-loathing), and my time outs, the 54 minutes of swim time evaporated.
Moment of truth. 100 metres easy. Will I still have it? Hit the start button on the watch. Off! For the 1st 2 lengths the ball bearing feeling was there. Maybe not quite as strong, but I was still rolling through the water. By the 3rd length it deteriorated. By the last length, I had to push it a lot. It was no longer easy swimming. My ego and the desire to achieve “the goal” had won over the objective of the test, of doing 100 metres EASY. I failed the BIGGER test. Good.
As much as failure sucks, sometimes success sucks too, but, in a different way. The expectations that success brings with it can be motivating but also stifling. Doing a personal best at anything is certainly a double-edged sword, whether that best is physical, financial, professional, whatever. If you get to live long enough, as I have, and you come to accept that reality, you can move on. And if you don’t, you’re gonna be a bitter old bastard.
Although the authorities have said there is no travel between the different health districts in the province, Zoom knows no bounds, and neither does Fitspeek. In this week’s show the Abbotsford Triathlon Club’s head coach, Mikey Ross stops in for another Top Five List. He offers run pacing tips designed to help you go the distance.
And for our interview segment
We go the distance (in this case 50 minutes) with 2 of Canada’s age-group triathletes, Dave Matheson and Martin Caron. Although these guys were not your typical jocks growing up, after they discovered the sport of triathlon, they found their inner-athlete. We talk about their impressions on the new Ironman Canada course, how they spent the summer of 2020, and what they are looking forward to this summer. 60 minutes of Okanagan infused Fitspeek is available at the press of THIS button.
